A Wedding, a Bang and a Tragedy
by m-is-for-MollyMansfieldMealing
Summary: Bad title- apologies, it's quite late. At Zax's wedding reception, an explosion strikes that affects everyone in different ways. Some got out unscathed, whereas others- well, they weren't so lucky... Centred around Charlie for a change.


**So it's currently 10:30pm and I've just finished this so I hope it makes sense. It will probably be a little OOC in places or too emotional but hey- that's late night writing for you.**

 **I hope you all enjoy anyway and reviews would be lovely! -Sophie x**

* * *

Ringing.

That's all Charlie could hear- the persistent ringing in his ears; a result of the massive explosion that tore through Zoe and Max's wedding reception as easily as a knife through butter.

The room was little more than a pile of rubble now, with sparks flying and more of the building collapsing with each passing second. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust which crept into everyone's lungs to wreak havoc on their breathing.

After getting his bearings, the nurse realised he was trapped by the light fitting that had fallen straight onto his feet. From where he lay, moans and shouts could be heard all around him.

"Is-" Charlie tried to speak but ended up coughing uncontrollably, sharp pains shooting through his chest with each laboured breath.

"Is, every-one…ok?" He called, voice croaky and barely audible.

"Charlie?"

It was Robyn. She seemed unharmed and carefully crawled her way over to where the old man laid.

"Charlie please tell me you're alright." She begged, tears streaming down her face. Wincing slightly, he nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching in place of a smile.

"I'm…fine. Have you…phoned an am-bulance?"

She nodded, pushing her ginger curls behind her ears. "They should be nearly here. I'm really scared Charlie- Max has a wooden beam through his arm, Zoe has a shattered glass in her stomach and Lofty isn't even conscious, I-"

Charlie interrupted her, slowly moving his arm and resting his hand on hers.

"Don't…worry about…it." He whispered, shutting his eyes as the pain in his chest worsened.

"You're not alright! What's wrong?" Robyn sounded mortified, just as the loud sirens of the ambulance and fire engines arrived.

"Just…my chest…go and see to…ambulance." He told her. She nodded slightly reluctantly and scrambled over to the doors.

Going by his symptoms, Charlie suspected he had a pneumothorax on the right side of his chest. However at that moment in time, his lung was the least of his worries. The amount of cries had faded away into small whimpers which worried him immensely, and there seemed to be little or no movement from the rubble.

Feeling frustrated due to the fact he couldn't help, the nurse stared up at the ceiling, continuously blinking to resist the dust and waited to be freed.

…

Charlie lost consciousness sometime after that, and only awoke again when he felt a huge weight being lifted from his feet. The light fitting had been moved and he was able to move.

"Carefully does it now Charlie. Any other injuries?" The man opened his eyes to find Dixie grinning at him.

"Boy am I…glad to see you." He grinned straight back before glancing down to his chest. "Possible…pneumothorax...on the right side."

"Alright. Let's get you up and outside- keep a tight hold on me." Together they got the nurse to his feet, and immediately he looked around. Emergency crews were scuttling about like insects on the fallen pieces of building. Charlie guessed they were checking for other people trapped.

"Am I..the last one?" He wheezed, clutching his chest as they turned a corner into what used to be the reception area.

"We think so. Come on now, nearly there." She clapped him on the back as the two made their way outside.

The rest of his colleagues were stood by the ambulances and fire engines, and they all looked up when he came into view.

"You're safe!" Robyn ran to his side and gave him a quick but gentle hug. "If we'd have lost you, I don't even know-"

"Alright…alright." He smiled, glancing around. His eyebrows immediately furrowed. Everyone seemed to be there; except one.

"Where's Tess?" He asked, trying to peer over everyone's heads. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the two women glance at each other.

"Robyn." His voice was full of warning. "I said…where's Tess?"

"Charlie, she was… Well, she was in a pretty bad state." Her voice wavered slightly and the nurse's stomach dropped.

"No. She's going to be…alright though?"

Dixie paused before answering him.

"Let's just see to you first shall we." She gave him a quick pat on the back before calling Ian over to assess him.

Before long everyone was dispatched into ambulances. Charlie was sharing with Connie and Noel, though he took the trolley due to his breathing issues.

"Are you…alright?" The elderly nurse asked his boss as she climbed in. She nodded reassuringly, taking her seat.

"Fractured wrist. Could have been worse."

"Oh good. I'm glad you're…ok."

"Me too. Now you sit quiet and concentrate on your breathing." Connie rested her hand on his after wiping away the remnants of brick and wood from his pale skin. Once Noel climbed in and Dixie after, they were ready to go.

…

Back at the hospital, they were met by Ethan and Lily who were both shaken but able to work. Noel and Connie were taken to cubicles, and Charlie wheeled straight through to resus as Dixie reeled off his obs and stats.

"Right can we get some paracetamol for the pain, 2 of moxiphilis and a chest pump in please as soon as possible!" Ethan called to the nurses gathered round the supplies trolley. The older nurse gently eased his head to one side and surveyed the room, breathing now easier.

One his left hand side was Zoe having the larger shards of glass removed from her stomach. On Charlie's other side was Dylan, barking orders at startled nurses about needing "5mg of morphine and not IV paracetamol, are you a bunch of idiots". However, in the bed next to him lay a small, dark haired woman, only recognisable to the ones who knew her due to the thick layer of blood and dust that coated her entire frame.

"Tess!" Charlie called out urgently, unable to stop himself. "Tess!"

"She's unconscious, possible brain haemmorage and queried TBI." Ethan said quietly. The nurse's mouth slowly fell open.

"Please, please god no." He whispered, starting to struggle against the wires he was connected to, just as his colleague's hart monitor went off and he froze.

He knew that sound all too well.

Ethan's head snapped up and his face immediately paled.

"She's in VF with no pulse, can we begin CPR please!" He shouted, darting to the side of her bed as one of the nurses began to pump her chest.

Unable to take not knowing what was going on, Charlie ripped off his wires and waved the away the agency nurse who was trying to fit his chest pump, before sitting then eventually standing. He made his way to her bedside and his eyes immediately began to water at the sight of her. She looked so small, so frail and innocent on those startling white sheets.

"Shocking!" Everyone took a step back as the electricity ran through her body, jolting her so violently that Charlie jumped.

"Come on Tess." He whispered, clutching her hand between shocks. "You can't leave me now."

40 minutes of resuscitation flew past like lightening, and Ethan eventually sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking round.

"Are we-" his voice wavered slightly, "are we all in agreement?"

Charlie looked up to see all the medics around her bed nodding, and he was nothing short of furious.

"How _dare_ you." His voice shook with anger as he glared at each and every pair of eyes around that trolley. "How _dare_ you give up on a fellow colleague like that? You can't just call this off, she needs you! She needs you and what are you doing? Turning your backs on her like a bunch of bloody cowards!" His shouts rang throughout the room, escaping through the door where Connie was stood, half frozen and half shocked.

"She's been in VF for 45 minutes now Charlie, we need to stop." Ethan tried to speak to him but he waved him away angrily, refusing to take in what he was saying. The nurse's gaze fell to his fallen colleague on the bed, and he choked back a sob.

"Please, just one more round?" He asked quietly, never leaving Tess' blood-stained face. Recovered slightly, Connie went and put her arm on his back.

"She's gone Charlie." She whispered. That was all he needed to hear for his eyes to over spill.

"No. Please Tessie, please come on- wake up. For me- prove them wrong." The nurse begged, his tears splashing to the floor before he covered his face with his hands.

"Please."

"Come on, let's go somewhere quiet." Connie gently prompted him to move, leaving resus and going to her office.

"She can't be gone." He said simply, looking straight into her eyes, his own now watery and bloodshot. "Connie tell me this is some sort of dream or sadistic joke."

She just slowly shook her head and bit her own lip before pulling him in for a hug. The woman felt her shoulder grow damp with salty tears as she listened to his sobs. From what she could recall, no-one had ever seen Charlie cry before. It wasn't a nice sight; seeing this father figure to so many people this distraught and vulnerable.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. "She's in a better place now. Cliché, I know but it's true."

"She might well be but that's not the point- I didn't get to say goodbye. I didn't get to tell her how thankful I was that I had the privilege to get to know her. I didn't tell her just how much I loved having her around, or how much she meant to me. And now I'll never be able to do that and she'll never know."

He broke away from her and went to stand in front of the window, looking out into cubicles where the rest of his colleagues had congregated having been told the news. Robyn, he saw, was looking around anxiously, so he opened the door and went to join her.

As soon as she saw him, the small ginger haired nurse ran for a hug, she too unable to stop the tears from dripping down her cheeks.

"She's gone. She can't have gone, she's been like my mum since I started here- she can't die, it's not fair!" The young nurse cried, clutching Charlie's shirt as she buried her head in his shoulder.

"She has." His voice cracked as he gave her a gentle squeeze before pushing her away and tilting her chin up. "But you know what? She couldn't have died happier; surrounded by her friends and colleagues celebrating a marriage. So don't think that she died; think of it as moving on." Through his watery vision, Charlie saw his colleagues watch him with avid attention before one slowly began to clap. And another. And another, until it turned into a full round of applause.

"To Tess Bateman; a brilliant nurse, wonderful friend and loving mother figure to many. Gone but never forgotten." He called and people began to cheer.

Outside, high above the hospital, the sun emerged from behind the dull grey clouds and shone down over Holby City. It was her way of saying goodbye; a fond farewell until they all met again.


End file.
